Ray Nieto

For The First Time, Physicists Know How to Measure The Force of Light's Momentum

An unprecedented feat!<p>How much pressure does light exert on the matter with which it interacts? It's a problem that's confounded scientists for …

Mysterious ribbons of light dubbed 'Steve' are NOT auroras, after all: Scientists say the 'skyglows' represent an entirely new celestial phenomenon

Mysterious purple and white ribbons of light seen dancing across the sky may represent a never-before-identified type of ‘skyglow.’<p>While amateur …

German Researchers Have Built a Quantum Transistor Using Just a Single Atom

A team of researchers at Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have developed a quantum transistor using just a single atom, and capable of …

Plasma Scientists Created Invisible, Whooping 'Whistlers' in a Lab

There's a sort of radio wave that bangs its way around Earth, knocking around electrons in the plasma fields of loose ions surrounding our planet and …

How Einstein's equivalence principle extends to the quantum world

How Einstein's equivalence principle extends to the quantum world has been puzzling physicists for decades, but a team including a University of …

How Scientists Discovered Helium, the First Alien Element, 150 Years Ago

“I have obtained one of the finest and least expected results—Spectra of the stars!—and beautiful spectra with colors and magnificent lines. Just one …

NASA's Hubble Telescope captures 15,000 galaxies in one dazzling image

I honestly almost can't believe this is real and it makes me feel so infinitely small.<p>Look at this. Just <i>look</i> at it. Take your time with it.<p>This image of the cosmos comes courtesy of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, using ultraviolet vision to capture one of the most expansive images of galaxies yet. …

Three Science Experiments You Can Do With Your Phone

Everyone already knows that you are carrying around a computer in your pocket. But your smartphone is more than just a computer—it's also a data …

The Greatest Mistake In The History Of Physics

We all love our most cherished ideas about how the world and the Universe works. Our conception of reality is often inextricably intertwined with our ideas of who we are. But to be a scientist is to be prepared to doubt all of it each and every time we put it to the test. All it takes is one …

Researchers Find Source of Strange 'Negative' Gravity

Sound has negative mass, and all around you it's drifting up, up and away — albeit very slowly.<p>That's the conclusion of a paper submitted on July 23 …

We may finally know why marijuana helps people with chronic gut problems

And it could have implications for other inflammation, too.<p>As John Mayer tells us (and tells us, and tells us), your body is a wonderland. When it comes to microbial life, this holds especially true for your gut. There, hundreds of residential species eat, breed, and excrete waste. Somehow, your …

Ancient Flyer: New Extremely Old Pterosaur Found in Utah

Not a dinosaur, not a bird. The discovery of a new species offers new insights.<p>Paleontologists are Brigham Young University have made a rare discovery: a new pterosaur they have named <i>Caelestiventus</i> (heavenly wind) <i>hanseni</i>. One of the older such specimens ever discovered, the find is around 210 …

Do Bacterial Cells Store Memories?

Can you break a spaghetti stick in two? Probably not, but these mathematicians can

Students finally solve a spaghetti mystery that has baffled physicists for ages.<p>Have you ever tried the spaghetti challenge? It's a lesser-known …

Scientists ‘Squeeze’ Nanocrystals to Turn Liquids to Solids

Nanocrystals within a liquid droplet injected into an oily solution (left) are chemically compressed into a solid-like "jammed" 2D state (middle), …

Ask Ethan: Is Spacetime Really A Fabric?

Gravity might have been the first fundamental force ever discovered, but in many ways, it remains the least-well understood. We know that it’s always attractive, and that any two masses in the Universe, no matter where they are, will experience its force. When Einstein concocted his general theory …

NASA Spotted a Vast, Glowing 'Hydrogen Wall' at the Edge of Our Solar System

There's a "hydrogen wall" at the edge of our solar system, and NASA scientists think their New Horizons spacecraft can see it.<p>That hydrogen wall is …

The World’s Fastest Creature Is Not What You Think

When it comes to naming the world’s fastest creature, it’s tempting to think of peregrine falcons, cheetahs, or marlins, but as researchers from …

Einstein's Genius: Describing the Geometry of Space-Time

<i>Paul Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University and the chief scientist at COSI science center. Sutter is also host of "Ask a Spaceman"</i> …

Itsy bitsy spider robots might crawl around inside you one day

They're the smallest soft robots of their kind.<p>Less than 0.2 inches long and stylish to the point of gaudiness, male peacock spiders are some of the jewels of the arachnid world. Unless you live in parts of Australia and spend lots of time in the spring looking around for tiny spiders, you probably …

Weird Prehistoric Plant Turns Out To Be Weird Prehistoric Animal

The riddle of the Ediacarans continues.<p>Algae? Fungi? Some other type of plant? The Ediacaran organisms, ancient life forms that were common on in the Earth's oceans half a billion years ago, have puzzled scientists for decades. Now two paleontologists feel confident that the ancient species were …

These "smart skin" stickers are also speakers

These stickers, thinner than temporary tattoos, have a grid of silver wires in them that make sound when electrified. They also work as …

See what Earth looked like from space when it was ruled by dinosaurs

Ever wonder what the Earth looked like before humans came along and added pollution and man-made destruction to the mix?<p>The 3D interactive website called Ancient Earth Globe lets you glimpse the world from space during the age of the dinosaurs -- and more. Seeing the Earth at various points in …

Scientists Warn Earth's Ecosystems Could Start Releasing CO2 On Their Own

Rising temperatures can turn 'carbon sinks' into 'carbon faucets,' leading to a ‘hothouse’ world.<p>As humans put increasingly large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the planet grows increasingly hotter. To fix this, the vast majority of the world’s governments have agreed to reduce or …

How Long Would It Take To Travel From One End Of The Universe To The Other At Light Speed?

<i>If the universe is 93 billion light years in diameter, how long would it take to travel end to end at light speed? originally appeared on Quora:</i> <i>the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world</i>.<p><b>Answer by Jack Fraser, Master’s Physics,</b> …

Physicists Tied Laser Beams into Knots

A team of physicists has tied light into figure-8 and torus knots.<p>The researchers, according to a paper published July 30 in the journal Nature …

NASA Created a Rare, Exotic State of Matter in Space

NASA has cooled a cloud of rubidium atoms to ten-millionth of a degree above absolute zero, producing the fifth, exotic state of matter in space. The …

Curiosity rover celebrates six cold, lonely years on Mars with a tweet

Being alone on a cold alien landscape may seem like a sad way to pass six years, but for the Mars Curiosity rover, it's been a brilliant …

Loopholes and the 'Anti-Realism' of the Quantum World

The theoretical physicist John Wheeler once used the phrase “great smoky dragon” to describe a particle of light going from a source to a photon …

Researchers Are Baking Up 24-Hour Fossils

The artificial fossils look like real fossils, and even hold up under a microscope.<p>It takes tens of millions of years to form a natural dinosaur fossil:pieces of bone, feather or other sediment get buried underground, and a combination of heat, pressure, chemical reactions and fate preserves it for …